Pop-Up Bike Light Giveaway

Last Friday, September 27th, BikePGH Volunteers surprised riders with a pop-up light giveaway event. They held a sign reading “Free Bike Lights!” and flagged down lightless bicycle riders near Schenley Plaza in Oakland. Over the course of two hours over 50 lights were given away as people responded to call outs and allowed us to take a minute to install front white lights and rear red lights on their bicycles. The lightless people who were pulled over claimed, “This is awesome!”, questioned “Why is this free?” and many “Thank Yous” were received.

The Pop-Up Bike Light Giveaway is an ongoing program of Bike Pittsburgh. The location is not disclosed beforehand, but a high-traffic bicycling area is chosen as a place to set up at dusk to give away sets of bike lights. The idea is to address the issue of biker visibility directly at the source by providing a set of free bike lights to riders who do not have them. Part of people’s safety involves their visibility to other road users. This Bike Light Giveaway was free thanks to the generosity of Performance Bike Pittsburgh and BikePGH’s mission to make people safer while riding.

Since the program’s beginning in 2011, 560 lights have been installed on people’s bicycles. That is 280 people in Pittsburgh who are more visible on the streets!

Do you appreciate programs like the Bike Light Giveaway? Donate to BikePGH through PittsburghGives.org on Thursday, October 3rd! A portion of every dollar you give to an organization will be matched by The Pittsburgh Foundation’s matching pool, and BikePGH has a private individual who will match all donations made to BikePGH Dollar for Dollar up to $5000! Find more Day of Giving details on this blog post.